Cozumel Incident 9/4/11

[UnderwaterBumbleBee]

I think I'll wait to read about this in an upcoming Lessons For Life article in Scuba Diving Magazine which I'm sure it will be featured in. Kind of amazing all the theories people are speculating about with so little facts known, seems like a waste of time to me until there are more specifics.

 

[vladimir]

Kind of amazing all the theories people are speculating about with so little facts known, seems like a waste of time to me until there are more specifics.

If your goal is to establish the facts of this incident, then I agree that it's a waste of time to speculate. Especially since at least one and hopefully all three of the divers involved can give first-hand accounts. There may also be three computers that can perhaps add precise and objective data to their acccounts. Hopefully they supply all that to Scuba Diving Magazine and elsewhere. I think it's far more likely that they don't, but hopefully I'm wrong.

But what if the goal of discussing the accident is to try to glean useful lessons that can be applied generally? Lessons that will be driven home more forcefully because of a poignant example of what the possible consequences of ignoring them might be? It has already provoked good discussion on strategies to cope with downcurrents, on the folly of "bounce dives," on the risk of "Ox-tox," and on the importance of proper training, preparation, and contingency planning for deep dives. Even if it turned out that the three divers in this incident did not encounter a downcurrent (hypothetically; yes, I know one diver has already confirmed that they did), and did not plan a deep dive or a bounce dive, how is that discussion useless?

 

[SeaFlea]

I've been reading through these threads and it chokes me up when I read how badly the folks were hurt in this accident. I've never met them but know they are wonderful people as they have so many kind remarks in their favor.

For those who say these "downcurrents" don't exist or that you can't get PUSHED down to 300 ft...... They are real as I've been in one. One of my early trips to Coz, maybe 96 or 98, around that time. Not sure but think we were on Santa Rosa Wall. We were diving with Dive Paradise, one of their advanced dives. We had entered the water, swam down to the wall edge and began a horizontal sweep across the wall face, maybe 60 or 70 ft. The next thing I noticed was the depth readout on my computer changing constantly, the numbers getting bigger, I wasn't sure but by the time I reacted I had changed 40 or 50 ft in depth. I began adding air to my BC while staring at my computer. My descent continued, I kept adding air. I tried to be calm and added only short bursts of air, I didn't want to overcompensate. Finally my descent slowed and stopped. I had reached 202 ft. I then began to rise and started dumping air. I managed a controlled ascent and found my buddy hovering above me somewhere around 60 or 70 ft. I didn't know what had happened at the time and didn't know anything about "downcurrents". I only realized several years later from posts on this board what it really was.

These are facts and it happened to me.

God speed to those hurt. They will be in my prayers.

SeaFlea.

 

[Chuckitall]

I've also done some stupid deep dives in Coz, but I rarely was more than 5 feet off of the wall. Did you use the wall to slow or stop your decent. Even in a downcurrent, I would think you could get to the wall to hang on.

 

[vladimir]

For those who say these "downcurrents" don't exist

I don't see anybody saying that. I think a few of the Cozumel experts tried to put the risk in perspective to combat some hysteria at the prospect of getting "sucked" down to 300'. Perhaps they overstated their case. But I think everybody would agree that if you are in a down-current and do nothing, or put little puffs of air into your vest as in a normal descent, you might continue to descend quite a ways.

I managed a controlled ascent and found my buddy hovering above me somewhere around 60 or 70 ft.

How far apart were you and your buddy that the downcurrent left him at 70 feet and took you to 200? Or did he take more aggressive steps to counteract it?

I didn't know what had happened at the time and didn't know anything about "downcurrents". I only realized several years later from posts on this board what it really was.

Could it have been just a poorly managed descent? If you were perhaps overweighted and descending quickly, you could have just overwhelmed your conservative bc inflation. I have been in a number of downcurrents and it was always obvious to me what occurred.

 

[padesc]

But what if the goal of discussing the accident is to try to glean useful lessons that can be applied generally?

+1 In life, at most, this is all you can really expect unless you have had a first hand experience. The risks and risk mitigation are general for most things, like driving, flying, diving, sailing, etc. The Pareto principle comes to mind when we are taught in OW and AOW how not to die or be injured in the most common and basic ways. Things like this shake us because they are outside of the normal scope. And sometimes, it is just the act of god principle. (even if you do everything right the outcome is bad). Like vladimir stated, there are things we can learn and should learn from this even without knowing the factual story a-z. I'm not sure why people feel entitled to the complete story. Take the lesson(s) it provides and apply it and be smarter for it.

 

[BTravlin]

I invite you to look back at my post where you quoted it - click on edit your post. You will find some hidden (white) text that indicates my intent with the post.

Sorry but I'm not seeing any hidden white text. What was your intent?

 

[WSOPFAN]

Sorry but I'm not seeing any hidden white text. What was your intent?

Post #50 has the white text......

 

[Mike]

I don't see anybody saying that. I think a few of the Cozumel experts tried to put the risk in perspective to combat some hysteria at the prospect of getting "sucked" down to 300'. Perhaps they overstated their case. But I think everybody would agree that if you are in a down-current and do nothing, or put little puffs of air into your vest as in a normal descent, you might continue to descend quite a ways.

How far apart were you and your buddy that the downcurrent left him at 70 feet and took you to 200? Or did he take more aggressive steps to counteract it?

Could it have been just a poorly managed descent? If you were perhaps overweighted and descending quickly, you could have just overwhelmed your conservative bc inflation. I have been in a number of downcurrents and it was always obvious to me what occurred.

I guess you missed this then --

There are no downdrafts that take you from 80 feet to 300, period.

A couple of points - getting caught in your hypothetical down current that is easily overcome with some routine puffs, might not be an option with somebody narc'd or somebody in panic or somebody with an equipment failure. It seems a lot of accidents are a result of task overloading - when a group of single normally routine problems occur on top of each other changes everything.

Second thing, in regard to your thoughts on a few puffs will solve the problem, I couldn't find it but maybe somebody else can, but not long ago there was a report here from some people caught in a very strong down current and they were clawing their way up the wall, a few puffs didn't in my recollection seem like a solution.

Since we are all speculating - my speculation is that this accident is a result of a combination of single issues that combined to create the accident. Perhaps somebody on a deep dive in the 150ft range, getting narc'd or having an equipment failure or issue, possibly maybe some physical distress and the addition of a down current that might have been easily dealt with, suddenly isn't so easy to deal with as a result of the combination of multiple events and when things happen quickly then you've got the results that happened.

Pure speculation, but I'm leaning more toward something more logical, rather then something extreme based on the experience levels of the divers and their reputations.

 

[Rescue Diver68]

Post #50 has the white text......

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